Oil & Gas Prices August 21

[dan_s]

3:00PM NYMEX Energy Closing Prices (COMDX) : Oct crude oil rose $.60 to $96.89 per barrel, Sept natural gas settled unchanged at $2.78 per MMBtu, Sept heating oil rose 3 cents to $3.12 per gallon, and Sept RBOB gasoline rose 3 cents to $3.06 per gallon.

Crude oil traded higher in today's floor trade on a decline in the dollar and further tensions in the Middle East. Earlier today, reports suggested that President Obama has warned about military action against Syria if the country deploys chemical or biological weapons. The energy component climbed to a session high of $97.85 but lost steam in afternoon action. Despite the pull-back, crude still managed to book a gain of 0.6%. Natural gas fell 11 cents, or 4%, to a floor session low of $2.70 following reports that a U.S. Court has put on hold an EPA rule over limits on sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions. However, concerns over weather-related disruption of production in the Gulf had buyers step in and quickly correct the move. It then popped to a session high of $2.84, but a sell-off heading into the close left natural gas to settle unchanged